Reaganocomics: Ronnie Approves Justice League International

Sometimes, writers - Giffen and/or Fleming, in this case - show their politics. Or is it just that Ronald Reagan was an easily-lampooned figure and JLI was a comedy book? Here's Superman's visit to the Oval Office in JLI #7:

Doesn't remember meeting SUPERMAN several times? Check.

Admits to not considering long-term ramifications. Check.

Has to ask Nancy... Check.

Who knew you needed presidential approval to take the "of America" off your team name! It was Reagan's America, so of course the Justice League was managed by an evil businessman (Maxwell Lord).

Off camera, Reagan thinks to himself, "I would remember if I met Superman. Why, just the other day I was talking to that reporter, Clark Kent, about how I'd never met Superman, and he sort of turned at the wall and winked and said, 'Maybe you have' under his breath."

I think Legends* was the only place where they met post-crisis. "Several times" might be stretching things, but they may have had multiple distinct conversations in that mini.

And the approval wasn't so much for taking America off the name as it was putting themselves nominally under UN authority while still operating in and headquartered in the United States, which, considering the power levels even of that version of the league, probably should have actually involved more than just the say-so of the president.

*Which could fill at least a Reaganocomics theme week if I recall correctly...

I think you almost have it. Pre-Crisis, DC's editorial staff was so shy about being controversial that the President was often depicted with his face hidden in shadow, like they weren't even willing to take the step of acknowledging what year it was or who was president. If DC Comics didn't even know who was president, how can characters in the comics be sure whether they were the president who met Superman?

I forgot about Kennedy. Wonder if "shadow Presidents" had anything to do with the country getting more divisive with the Vietnam War and everything that followed. Meanwhile over at Marvel, they were implying that Nixon himself was running a secret conspiracy, and a few years later there was this:

I'm late to this party, but somebody's gotta stand up for Max Lord. Whatever his alignment might be now, Max wasn't such a bad guy back in the day, as attested to by Martian Manhunter. And if we can't trust J'onn J'onzz, who can we trust?